On 8/2/08 07:58, in article
, "Dave
Poole" wrote:

Try Leucothoe axillaris, because that's what it is. Stachyurus is a
genus of deciduous shrubs/small trees, which discounts it in the first
place. Give the plant another few weeks for the flowers to develop
fully because the photograph portrays one that has a little way to go
yet. As the inflorescence develops, the basal bracts dehisce and are
not normally present by the time the flowers have reached maturity.

Well, at least I know that I haven't lost my mind and that I did recognise
it, even if I couldn't complete the circle with any certainty!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

In article ,
Anne Jackson writes:
|
| The leaves and growth habit looked horribly familiar (Hypericum,
| Vinca etc.), but I am 90% certain that I have never seen that in
| flower and never taken notice of it out of flower ....
|
| Not Vinca. They have single, bright blue flowers, not clusters.

And other colours, but yes. And Hypericum flowers are completely
different, too. It was the leaf shape and habit I was referring to,
but I misread the picture anyway. Hypericum and Vinca have opposite
leaves; this has alternate ones.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 8 Feb, 10:01, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:
In message
,
Dave Poole writes

Try Leucothoe axillaris, because that's what it is. *Stachyurus is a
genus of deciduous shrubs/small trees, which discounts it in the first
place. *Give the plant another few weeks for the flowers to develop
fully because the photograph portrays one that has a little way to go
yet. *As the inflorescence develops, the basal bracts dehisce and are
not normally present by the time the flowers have reached maturity.

Thanks.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

I would have said Leucothoe fontanesiana , it seems a dead ringer for
the 3 I have growing here.
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries

In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article ,
Stewart Robert Hinsley writes:
|
| http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot19.jpg
| http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/Dicot20.jpg

You do ask the easy ones, don't you? :-)

They are easy - if you know the plant - as the Davids might tell you. In
hindsight, if I had had the confidence to treat it as ericaceous and
vaccinioid I might have found it myself, except that I might well have
been misled by the caducous bracts.

The leaves and growth habit looked horribly familiar (Hypericum,
Vinca etc.), but I am 90% certain that I have never seen that in
flower and never taken notice of it out of flower ....


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

In message
,
Dave Hill writes
On 8 Feb, 10:01, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:
In message
,
Dave Poole writes

Try Leucothoe axillaris, because that's what it is. *Stachyurus is a
genus of deciduous shrubs/small trees, which discounts it in the first
place. *Give the plant another few weeks for the flowers to develop
fully because the photograph portrays one that has a little way to go
yet. *As the inflorescence develops, the basal bracts dehisce and are
not normally present by the time the flowers have reached maturity.

Thanks.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

I would have said Leucothoe fontanesiana , it seems a dead ringer for
the 3 I have growing here.
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries

I've gone and checked Weakley's "Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia,
Georgia, and surrounding areas". It only has two species of Leucothoe,
but they happen to be L. axillaris and L. fontanesiana. According to
this L. axillaris has acute or shortly acuminate leaf apices, and ovate
sepals with rounded or obtuse apices, and L. fontanesiana long acuminate
leaf apices and ovate-lanceolate sepals with acute or sub-acute apices;
the other distinguishing characters are raceme and petiole lengths,
which can't be evaluated from the photographs, especially with immature
racemes.

Unfortunately, even with these hints I can't tell which it is - from
looking at photographs via Google I'd thought L. axillaris had the
closer jizz. It looks as if I may have to take a closer look at the
plants later this year, if I remember what I should be looking for.

[I've found a 1977 paper saying that L. walteri is the correct name for
L. fontanesiana, but the latter still seems to have the lead in usage.]

I found a couple of unfiled photographs from the same garden, taken a
little later in the year.

http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/May090.jpg
http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Images/May091.jpg

However I think that they're from a different location in the garden,
and appear not to be the same plant - the bracts are smaller, and appear
to be persistent. They're listed in my notebook as "Gaultheria?"
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

On Feb 8, 2:25 pm, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:

I've gone and checked Weakley's "Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia,
Georgia, and surrounding areas". It only has two species of Leucothoe,
but they happen to be L. axillaris and L. fontanesiana. ....

Unfortunately, even with these hints I can't tell which it is - from
looking at photographs via Google I'd thought L. axillaris had the
closer

This is where trying to identify from books and/or possibly erroneous
information form the web causes a gamut of confusion. Descriptions
remain just that and you have to see and know the plant first hand to
make a judgement. Fine tuning is aided by references, but wholesale
identifications are an entirely different proposition. In this case,
the plant is quite clearly a Leucothoe - absolutely no doubt about
that without any minutiae being pored over.

I refer back to the musings about it being Stachyurus. The only
possible similarity could have been that both plants carry drooping
racemes of white flowers. After that there is no similarity
whatsoever and they cannot be confused.

L. fontanesiana has been mentioned, but that is an altogether more
vigorous and coarser plant with broader elliptic leaves more widely
arranged upon the stem. It is less dense in its growth, but an
entirely more substantial sub-shrub.

I hesitate to use my preferred description of Leucothoes as being
herbaceous perennials, but they are truly a rhizomatous perennials
with stems arising from below ground, which mature, flower and
eventually die away.

L. fontanesiana, but the latter still seems to have the lead in usage.

I think you will find that fontanesiana is the accepted correct name
and takes precedence over walteri.

I found a couple of unfiled photographs from the same garden, taken a
little later in the year.
http://www.stewart.hinsley.me.uk/Ima...ges/May091.jpg
However I think that they're from a different location in the garden,
and appear not to be the same plant - the bracts are smaller, and appear
to be persistent. They're listed in my notebook as "Gaultheria?"

Despite Leucothoe and Gaultheria being related (Gaultheria is far more
closely related to and inter-breedable with Pernettya), the two genera
are instantly distinguishable from each other and are unlikely to be
confused by anyone who has grown them.